Downtown Boston is trying to find its post-pandemic identity. It’s fighting an uphill battle.
People in Greater Boston are less likely to spend time in neighborhoods not like their own than they were five years ago. Here’s why that’s a problem for downtown.
‘We really never came back to each other’: Five years after COVID, we’re more divided than ever
After a brief moment when Americans came together to battle a virus, the pandemic accelerated divisions of all kinds. If it happens again, could we unite again?
You’ve heard of the ‘urban doom loop.’ Nearly five years after the pandemic, are humans in one, too?
The beginning of the pandemic was nearly five years ago, but we’re just beginning to understand the many ways it has changed our behavior. New England Emmy Award
And Still We Ride: MBTA Riders are the 2023 Bostonians of the year
MBTA riders are tired, fed up — and essential. They’re our 2023 Bostonians of the Year.
A ‘doom loop’ narrative has taken over San Francisco. Here’s what it means for Boston.
How the City by the Bay has fallen since COVID and hopes to bounce back, and what the capital of the Bay State could learn from watching
At Barbara Lynch’s restaurants, growing concern over a toxic culture
Two deaths on the staff at Menton, and the famous chef’s response, are triggering a reckoning in one of Boston’s best-known restaurant groups
‘People are leaving’: Massachusetts has lost 110,000 residents since COVID began. Is life better out there?
Citing housing costs and remote work, among other factors, 110,000 more people have moved out of Massachusetts than moved in since the start of COVID. SABEW Award
Whales are dying. Ropes from lobster traps are partly to blame. That’s put lobsters — and the people who catch them — in the crosshairs of conservation groups.
A key seafood industry watchdog group urges consumers not to eat lobster because of the impact on endangered right whales. SABEW Award
Kate Price Remembers Something Terrible
An authority on child sex trafficking, she spent decades trying to understand whether the unthinkable happened to her, too.
There used to be a garage behind the house on the corner, but it’s long gone. Today, the cement path that led to it ends in the middle of a lawn. A basketball hoop once hung from the side of the building, neighbors remember, and, if they got a glimpse of the interior, they saw auto parts strewn about and a pit in the floor where someone could climb in to change a car’s oil. But none of the neighbors recalls ever setting foot inside.
Kate Price remembers.
Watch: A short documentary about Kate discussing her childhood memories of abuse, and how they inspire her work today. By Andrea Patiño Contreras. LINK.
Listen: To an audio version of the story, recorded by Audm. LINK.
Listen: Audio version of Kate Price Remembers Something Terrible
The audio version of my story, recorded by Audm, can be found here.
Boston doesn’t work if the T doesn’t work
With the MBTA engulfed by delays, staffing shortages, and service interruptions, a city recovering from a pandemic struggles to bounce back. And everyday riders are feeling the pain. Editor and Publisher EPPY Award
A downtown full of delivery warehouses? ‘Dark stores’ are coming to Boston
Fueled by billions in investment, a wave of 15-minute delivery startups are moving into vacant downtown storefronts in Boston and other cities.
Death, disrupted: How the Boston-based ‘Warby Parker of caskets’ aims to upend the funeral business
Caskets are a big business for funeral-home operators. Titan Caskets is selling them direct-to-consumer for less.